The Cost of Discipleship (Guest Speaker Derek Sullivan)

In a culture where the Gospel is watered down and lives aren't fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, God calls His faithful preachers and pastors to present their testimonies of grace, and to preach on radical obedience to Jesus! Through this sermon, you will hear a testimony of what God has done, and you will hear the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.

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10 Questions with New Youth Intern Derek Sullivan

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1. What was your life like as a child?

Life growing up as a child was very difficult when I wasn't with my grandparents. My birth dad was a drunk and drug user, and my mom always worked to support us. My birth dad was like this because he was a musician, and he was out a lot! My older brother and I were left home to take care of ourselves, and when my little brother came along we had to take care of him as well. Now, we did have fun! I got in lots of trouble and I goofed off, but we knew when we had to take life seriously.

When I was 18, something significant happened in my life. God placed me in my adopted-family's home. These people loved me, helped me in any way you could imagine and my spiritual dad discipled me (and is still to this day) and is helping me prepare for a life in ministry!

2. How did you come to know Jesus and become his follower?

You're Not So Special...

"I'm teaching people to worship themselves"

- Lady Gaga

Over the last five years or longer, I've told just about anyone who will listen that America's idol is consumerism.  Of course, we consume for ourselves, for our own prestige and indulgence and our own future happiness or health.  So the question becomes, really, how can consumerism be a god in and of itself?  It is really just a front for narcissism, the fascination with and even worship of oneself.

I came across an interesting article today on our culture's descent into narcissism over the past three decades, in particular.  Don't miss the end of the article that gives practical ways to fight narcissism in the way you raise your children.  But we also need to fight it in ourselves.  I will be thinking on that question over the next couple of months.  I would love to read your comments as well.

Read the article

Jesus is Alive and at Work Right Now

I really feel bad for the people who believed Harold Camping's prediction that the Rapture would take place last Saturday.  It's easy to believe when God falls silent when you expect him to show up in a big way that really, he is doing nothing at all.  Why hasn't Jesus returned yet, if indeed he really is coming?  What is he doing in the mean time?  What truths guide us as we seek to obey Jesus' command to watch with hopeful expectation for his Return?  These are the questions we try to answer in this Sunday's message.

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Are we still here?

I pre-set this post to appear today.  As you probably have heard, according to these folks, the Rapture should have been yesterday.  Check it out...

http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21/

I think the most unfortunate thing about a well-known date for the Rapture that doesn't happen is that it gives people the opportunity to mock not just the guy who set the date but the whole idea of a Second Coming.  I hope Christians who disagree strongly with this group's methods and conclusions can still join together in our hope for the Return of Christ, which will indeed happen "at an hour you do not expect him" (Luke 12:40), and not seem to join in with mocking the idea that Jesus could indeed come May 21st or any time.

So, are we still here?  Just checking... If not, I'm happy to go be with the Lord!

"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." (Acts 1:7)

More Thoughts About Assurance

Around New Year's of 2003, I made two decisions that changed my life dramatically in the short term.  One decision was that I was going to train for and run a marathon.  The other decision was that I was going to ask Liz to marry me.  Both occupied my thoughts and changed my actions: I was adding a fairly long-distance run to my schedule five times a week, building my mileage according to a plan that I checked often.  My evenings consisted of running, cooking, eating... and spending time with my soon-to-be fiancee.  In the first few weeks of 2003, I went out and found a ring, I thought about how I would ask her, tried to be sneaky (unsuccessfully) in hiding my plans as I tried to talk to Liz's dad and make all the other arrangements I needed to make.  

Two major decisions.  Both life-changing in the short-term.  Only one really changed my life.  I married Liz and my life was changed for the better forever.  But by January 2004, I was in worse shape than I was in 2003.

People make decisions all the time.  Some stick and some don't; some are life-changing and some make no difference at all.  The same thing is often true when people make decisions to follow Christ.

So what do we make of that?

Knowing You Know (and Knowing You Don't)

One of the big questions religion tries to answer is the question of what happens after you die.  The Christian hope is that we will be resurrected to live in the presence of God forever in heaven.  But how do we know we are going to make it?  When people answer that question for themselves, they often point to an event in their past, like a baptism, a prayer they prayed, or some other experience.  But the Bible tells us that we know we are in Christ by one test: do you have the Holy Spirit or not?  And to answer that question, we don't look back to the past but at our own lives and own hearts today.  And when we examine Scripture to understand how to recognize the Holy Spirit in our lives, we find that those who are living in disobedience cannot know for certain that they are saved.

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Lessons from Mom

The greatest gift God gave me was to give me Christian parents who invested time to make sure that I was not only introduced to Jesus but I actively followed him, too.  My dad was the spiritual leader in our family and instilled a sense that we could always trust God and it was always best to obey God, no matter what the circumstances.  My mom's role was a little bit different, but as I grow in Christ, I realize more and more how she, more than any other person, pushed me to become the type of follower of Jesus I have become...

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Passing on Your Faith

"Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."

--Psalm 71:18

Our most precious duty as parents who know Christ is to pass that knowledge on to our children.  I think we all realize this fact, but we struggle on how to do it.  Here is an interesting take on how not to do it:

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church

Let's turn those five things around and look at ways to help your kids love Jesus...

Love Your Enemies?: The Death of Bin Laden

Here are some thoughts on the big news of the week from the guys at Resurgence (whole article)...

Osama Bin Laden deserves death and eternal damnation. And so do you.

 ...

The appropriate Christian response lives in the tension of these verses: 

Proverbs 11:10 - When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

Proverbs 24:17 - Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, & let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.

These verses elicit mixed emotions: the joy of justice enacted and the sorrow at the reality of destruction. The relief that accompanies the news of Osama's death should be without vengeance (Deut. 32:35), yet tempered with regret at the death of any image-bearer of God.

Greater Things?

Did you ever ask the question why Jesus ascended to heaven after his Resurrection?  I mean, it would be more convenient in our proof of Christianity to have a 2,000 year-old fomerly crucified man walking around for us to point to.  But that's not what he did.  Instead, he told his disciples in John 14, that he was going to the Father, and because he was going to the Father, we would do what he had done and even "greater things than these."  I know I cannot do anything greater than Jesus' miracles.  Can you?  So what was he talking about?  It has to do with what he told them would happen just before he ascended to heaven: that the Holy Spirit would come and the church would begin.  Can I do "greater things"?  No.  But can we?  Well...

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